Tadhg Furlong Has Another Nickname And It’s Absolutely Brilliant

This is absolutely brilliant.

It’s fair to say we’re pretty big Tadhg Furlong fans and it’s easy to see why. The Leinster and Ireland prop has been enjoying a breakout season for club and country that has seen him explode in Lions contention.

A barnstorming performance against the All Blacks in Dublin put the Wexford man on the map, and made the rugby world sit up and take notice, and the tighthead prop hasn’t look back since.

A couple of months back we revealed that the Irish Rugby team, courtesy of Joe Schmidt, bestowed a brilliant nickname on the front-row. It all came about when the Irish team were watching back some video footage of the game at the Aviva agains the world champs.

I think my belly gets a good flash there doesn’t it? Always good to get the gut out on national television.” Furlong said on Second Captains.

It came up in the video review, Joe Schmidt said “Oh, here comes WWF…”, not even WWE so, WWF, we’re going back a few years.

And of course the lads jumped on the bandwagon and started calling me Rikishi, the big fat Samoan wrestler!

It turns out Furlong already had a nickname with an Irish Rugby team, and we’re torn between which one we prefer. Back when Furlong was playing for the Irish U-20’s side, coach Mike Ruddock branded him “The Mayor of Wexford.”

Speaking to David Walsh of the Sunday Times, Ruddock has revealed that Furlong however, wasn’t a fan of the new nickname.

“At our video reviews, I would give an award for ‘tackle of the game’. After our first game at the World Cup I called out the winner. ‘The Mayor of Wexford, Tadhg Furlong.’ Next game, it’s the same, the Mayor of Wexford wins the same award.”

“Third game he gets it again. ‘The Mayor of Wexford,’ I announce. And he says, ‘Mike, I don’t like the Mayor of Wexford bit.’ I had nicknames for a lot of the lads, so I asked, ‘Ok, what should I call you?'”

Furlongs response was absolutely brilliant.

“And he said, ‘Call me The Jukebox’. I said, ‘Why the Jukebox?'”

“And he said, ‘Because the hits keep coming.’ He was funny, not boastful, but he knew he could do it. That was the thing.”

Can you see now why we love Tadhg Furlong?